Brief history of Apartheid in South Africa

The painful truth about the history of apartheid
in South Africa is that it started right from the day that the first Europeans set foot on South
African soil.

Since that day the indigenous Khoi and San people and later the black peoplehave always been
victims of segregation and domination by the white people who were in power.

The Anglo/Boer wars ended in defeat by the "Boers" at the Peace treaty of Vereniging in 1902.

Suppressed and dominated by the warring parties during the 1800's once again, the black people
saw the peace treaty as the hoped-for opportunity to establish justice and equality for all
population groups.

But unfortunately it turned out differently. The peace treaty made no provisions as far as voting
rights andparliament representation for black people were concerned, continuing the process of
increasing segregation in South Africa.

Until the day when international pressure and the internal struggle for freedom grew to a point
where the wheel turned and South African apartheid was brought to an end.

Madiba Nelson Mandela, first State President of the new South Africa from 1994 till 1999Source: African National Congress - History of Apartheid in South Africa

After the Anglo-Boer wars,...

On the 31st of May 1910 the two British colonies Natal and the Cape, and the two "Voortrekker" or "Afrikaner"
republics Transvaal and Orange Free State, were united into the “Union of South Africa” with one centralized
self-government under British supremacy.

Apart from the Cape where the coloured people and certain qualifying black people were allowed to remain on
the voters roll, the black population were again denied their rights to vote and to participate in
government.

Famous photograph by Sam Nzima of the Soweto Uprising showing a student carrying the body of 12 year old Hector Pieterson, one of the first casualtiesHistory of Apartheid in South Africa

The "Boer" leaders Louis Botha, Jan Smuts and J.B.M. Hertzog were to play a dominant role in the country's
politics for the next half century. As leader of the South African party and first prime minister of the
Union of South Africa, General Louis Botha soon took the first repressive measures.

He wanted to entrench white supremacy, by introducing the Masters and Servants act, the reservation of
skilled work for whites, pass laws, the Native Poll Tax and the 1913 Land Act which reserved 90% of the
country for white ownership.

Widespread protest by the black people from all over the country, laid the foundation for a unified national
organization to represent the interests of the black people of all ethnic groups in the union. On the 8th of
January 1912 the South African Native National Congress (SANNC) was founded, known since 1923 as the African
National Congress (ANC).

They were no militants and all they wanted was equal rights, believing that they would be able to convince
the white people of their just course. Strengthening the joint protest against discrimination on the basis
of colour, they did not succeed however in making any difference to the life’s of the black people in South
Africa.

leading up to the second world war, was marked by widespread dissatisfaction among the black
people in South Africa. The bitterness that was taking root, showed on the protest campaigns, strikes and
labour union activities that were taking place.

At its conference in 1923 the African National Congress declared that it believed that it was the intention
of the government to permanently enslave all black South Africans.

When J.B.M. Hertzog became prime minister in 1824, "Afrikaner" nationalism gained a lot of ground and things
became even bleaker. He believed in complete segregation on all levels, territorial, economic, political
and educational.

The bills that were introduced to achieve this are known as the “hertzog” bills. They caused much misery for
the black people. An all African Convention held in Bloemfontein in 1935, denounced the Hertzog bills and
requested full and equal rights for all South Africans.

A funeral ceremony and demonstrations rally in 1985History of Apartheid in South Africa

In the early 30’s the National Party of J.B.M. Hertzog and the more moderate South African Party of Jan Smuts
were forced into a coalition government, which resulted in the fusion of the two parties, to form the
United Party. This led to right-winger D.F. Malan to break away and form a new National Party as a political
home for the more extreme "Afrikaner" nationalists.

The coalition government fell at the start of the second world war with Jan Smuts winning the power battle
and form a government that took South Africa into war. No matter how hard they tried during the 1920's and
1930's, the black people in South Africa remained spectators in the field of politics.

They were knocking on a bolted door which no one would open. It was soon realized by them that different methods
would have to be devised to get the attention of those in power, marking the start of what was to be nearly 50
years of head-to-head conflict between the African National Congress representing the black people and the
National Party government.

Woman and child in one of the many squatter camps

During the second world war, South Africa experienced phenomenal economic growth. The continuous industrial
growth led to more urbanisation, causing living conditions in the cities to deteriorate even more.

In 1944 the ANC Youth League was formed with Lembede as its president and Nelson Mandela as its secretary.
The protest against apartheid would take on new dimensions in the form of mass actions such as national
strikes, boycotts and defiance campaigns to name but a few.

When the second world war was over, Jan Smuts’s government came to a fall and new elections were held in
1948. Campaigning on the basis of its policy of apartheid, the National Party narrowly defeated Smuts's
United party. They formed a coalition government with the Afrikaner Party (AP), with D.F. Malan as prime
minister.

He immediately began implementing his government’s official ideology of racial segregation. Successive NP
administrations formalised and extended the existing system of segregation and denial of rights into the
legal system of racial segregation as we know it today and which lasted until the 1990’s.

Signboard in English and Afrikaans (Dutch)History of Apartheid in South Africa

An important pillar stone of the apartheid system was its "Homeland" policy, whereby parts of the country
were allocated to the different black ethnic groups as a kind of reserve, called "Homeland". Each "Homeland"
was to be an independent state with self-government and its own Head of State, under the hegemony of the
South African government.

The black people that were designated as belonging to such a “Homeland”, would have their South African
citizenship replaced with "Homeland" citizenship. This way most of the black people in South Africa would
have no more legal claims to participate in the South African government.

The 50’s saw the ANC's new strategy of mass resistance in the form of strikes, defiance campaigns and protest
marches. The defiance campaign of 1952 under the banner of non-violent resistance to the pass laws and the
1954 campaign against the deliberately inferior Bantu Education system are only but a few examples. On the
26th of June 1955 the ANC’s Freedom Charter, based on the principles of human rights and non-racialism, was
signed at the Congress of the People in Soweto.

Mid 1970s photograph of police checking passbooks in JohannesburgHistory of Apartheid in South Africa

The 60's was a decade of overwhelming repression. Matters came to a head at Sharpeville in March 1960, when
69 anti-pass demonstrators were killed by police. A state of emergency was imposed, detention without trial
was introduced and the black political organizations were banned.

This led to the ANC abandoning their commitment to non-violent resistance and turn to armed struggle. Top
leaders, including members of the newly formed military wing "Umkhonto we Sizwe" (Spear of the Nation), were
arrested in 1963. In the "Rivonia trial" eight ANC leaders, including Nelson Mandela were convicted of
sabotage and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Although initially the black people were left in relative political disarray, the 70’s saw a dramatic
resurgence of resistance activity when the revived black trade unions started a wave of strikes in 1973,
with a militancy that involved better and more effective organization.

June 1976 marked the beginning of a sustained revolt against racial segregation, when the school pupils of Soweto rose
up against apartheid education, followed by youth uprisings all over the country. In 1977, news of the
brutal death in detention of Steve Biko, leader of the Black Consciousness Movement, reverberated around
the world, ending whatever patience the outside world might have had with the South African government.

The 80's will be known as the decade of violence in the struggle for freedom. The P.W. Botha government
embarked on a campaign to eliminate the opposition, turning the country into a police state with police,
soldiers and armed vehicles patrolling the black townships and squatter camps.

The ANC and PAC retaliated by exploding bombs in restaurants, shopping centres and government buildings,
killing and maiming many civilians in the process. Black people who did not participate in the resistance
actions, were intimidated and victimized in violent ways by their own people. In the end the black people
were living in a lawless society, constantly in fear of their lives.

The country was in great turmoil and the anti apartheid struggle had succeeded in capturing the attention of
the world. As pressures from outside as well as inside the country were building up, economic sanctions were
beginning to seriously hurt the economy.

Realizing the inevitability of change, President P.W. Botha introduced a series of minor reforms in the
direction of racial equality. But he stopped far short of full reform and the black people as well as the
international community felt that the changes were only cosmetic.

Quotation of Steve Biko, leader of the Black Consciousness Movement, who died in a prison cell on 12 September 1977

With international pressure continuing to grow and the country on the verge of becoming ungovernable, the
South African government was left with no other option then to look for a negotiated settlement, recognizing
the demands of the blacks and ending the racial segregation system.

In August 1989 Botha resigned as President because of ill health and F.W. de Klerk was sworn in as acting
State President. This was to be the turning point towards the end of racial segregation in South Africa.

In February 1990 de Klerk announced the dismantling of the racial segregation system, the un-banning of all
liberation movements and the release of political prisoners, in particular Nelson Mandela.

After more then a year of preliminary talks, the real negotiations for a changeover of power to a majority
government began on the 20th of December 1991 at the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA). All
significant political role players were given the opportunity to take part in the negotiations.

During 1993 agreement was reached on a new constitution and the forming of a Government of National Unity,
in which all parties polling more then 5% in the elections, would be represented in the cabinet. After 5
years the Government of National Unity would become a straight majority rule government.

Although there was considerable political violence by some extremist elements during the negotiation period,
particularly in the wake of the killing of Chris Hani, chief of ANC military wing "Umkhonto we Sizwe", the
first free elections in South Africa on the 26th of April 1994 went off peacefully, amidst a feeling of
goodwill throughout the country.

Thabo Mbeki, who succeeded Nelson Mandela as State President of South Africa in June 1999Source: Antonio Milena/ABr. 27.Oct.2003. - History of Apartheid in South Africa

The African National Congress (ANC) won the elections, polling 62,6% of the vote. Nelson Mandela was chosen
to head the Government of National Unity as executive State President with F.W. de Klerk and Thabo Mbeki as
deputy presidents.

In South Africa's second democratic elections on the 2nd of June 1999, the ANC increased its majority
marginally. Nelson Mandela retired and Thabo Mbeki followed him up as State President.

F W de Klerk, State President of South Africa from 1989 till 1994, who ended the apartheid system. From 1994 till 1996 he was deputy State President of South Africa under Nelson MandelaHistory of Apartheid in South Africa

Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma, current president of the Republic of South Africa, who succeeded Thabo Mbeki in May 2009History of Apartheid in South Africa